


Can I Be Your Boyfriend?

by sushichan



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluffy Ending, Is this even angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 15:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14548104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sushichan/pseuds/sushichan
Summary: Baekhyun doesn't realize he's been dating Chanyeol for three months.





	Can I Be Your Boyfriend?

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Baekhyun Day, everyone!

Baekhyun doesn't know when it changes.

One day, he's hurrying home to watch the latest Boku no Hero Academia episode with Chanyeol. The next, he's away for the summer and Baekhyun misses him like he hasn't missed anyone before.

Maybe it's just that their dorm feels too empty, too clean, and it's throwing Baekhyun's senses off guard. If Chanyeol were here, his shoes would be sprawled out in the hall, the TV would be on in the background, and Baekhyun would probably find some kind of takeout on the kitchen counter. Now, he goes home to find the dorm dark and silent. The only sign that it's habituated are the dishes he left in the sink as he hurried to class that morning.

His stomach rumbles and he realizes he hasn't eaten anything since lunch. That’s when it hits him, how much he misses Chanyeol. He would never scold _Baekhyun_ , and most of the time it’s Baekhyun who does the taking care anyway, but when he’s too busy to take care of even himself, Chanyeol finds ways to look out for him, like leaving him food. Or just… being there to talk to and maybe give him a consoling hug… or cuddle. He hates to admit it but Chanyeol is a damn good cuddler. Put his long lanky arms in a sweater and you basically have a giant, warm cuddle machine. The first thing he’s gonna do when Chanyeol gets back is tackle him into a big hug and never let go of him.

Baekhyun really _is_ hungry. Nothing else would make him think like this, as if he almost couldn’t live without Chanyeol. He shakes his head and reminds himself that he has other friends, and that’s it’s Thursday, so he might as well get dinner that isn’t from the convenience store.

Jongdae picks up on the second ring. “What’s up, Baek?”

“Get dressed! We’re going to that good Mexican place.”

“Why are you automatically assuming I don’t have anything to do right now?”

“Do you have anything to do right now?” Baekhyun asks in a dubious voice.

“I could,” Jongdae scoffs. Five seconds later, “Ugh, no, I was going to rewatch Star Wars. I’ll be there in ten.”

True to his word, Jongdae rings him up in ten minutes, and they walk together to El Dorado, a Mexican restaurant they discovered last week.

“So why did you suddenly wanna go out?” Jongdae asks, playing with his menu.

“Can’t I just miss my good ol’ buddy?”

“I thought you were, quote unquote, too busy with finding a breakthrough in economic risk research?”

“No, I miss youuu,” Baekhyun whines leaning against him playfully.

“Hi, may I take your order?” The waiter says.

Jongdae jumps up in his seat. “Oh hey, Minseok! How are you?”

Jongdae’s dimples come out and his eyes crinkle when he smiles. Baekhyun’s eyes narrow.

“Great, thanks!” Minseok has a small, cute face and perfect almond eyes. “Would you like to hear about the soup of the day? It comes with unli nachos.”

“I would _love_ to hear about it, yeah,” Jongdae says with an unwavering smile. Baekhyun looks between the two of them.

Minseok smiles shyly, and Baekhyun can almost hear Jongdae’s internal cooing from where he sits.

“Well, it’s tortilla soup and the nachos on the side are refillable.”

“Sure, please get us one of those,” Jongdae says sweetly. “Oh, and one tapa burrito, please.”

“Got that. How about you?” Minseok asks, looking at Baekhyun expectantly.

“Just a chicken enchilada, please.”

“All right. Can I get you anything to drink? We have a happy hour promo, so all beers are half price.”

“Oh, uh.” Baekhyun can’t really drink right now.

“Come on, the mock defense isn’t until next week! And it’s called a mock defense for a reason!” Jongdae prods at him.

“Are you kidding?” Baekhyun asks incredulously before giving in easily. “Fine, just one bottle for me.”

“Make that two,” Jongdae adds.

“Okay. So, one tortilla soup, a tapa burrito, a chicken enchilada, and two beers.”

“Yep, perfect!” Jongdae says, smiling again as Minseok scurries away.

“What was that!?” Baekhyun hisses at him when Minseok is out of hearing distance.

Jongdae smiles secretively.

Baekhyun kicks him under the table. “Since when were you the god of flirting or something?”

“Since god gave me Kim Minseok.”

“Was he here last week?”

“Hell yeah, he was! But y’all were too busy making eyes at each other to notice.”

“I would have noticed someone that cute! Wait, what did you say?”

Jongdae rolls his eyes. “You and Chanyeol.”

“Me and who now?” Baekhyun asks stupidly, but he feels his heartbeat speed up.

He throws up both hands in the air as if giving up. “Weren’t you dating?”

“There is _nothing_ going on between me and Yeollie. Why does everyone keep assuming that?”

“You really wanna know?”

Baekhyun gives him a challenging look.

“First of all, the eyes. Y’all can’t keep your eyes off each other.”

“But that’s-“ Baekhyun starts.

“No. It’s not,” Jongdae says firmly. “Second, the touching. Not only can’t you keep your eyes off each other, you also can’t keep your hands off.”

“But we-“

“No, we do not touch each other _all the time_. Would I sit on your lap?”

“Yes? My thighs are powerful.”

“Okay, noted. But for the record, I wouldn’t sit on your lap for a whole movie while feeding you popcorn and making lovey eyes.”

“But he’s such a good cuddler, how could I not!”

“See! Have you ever slept on like the same bed for no apparent reason?”

Baekhyun pouts. “No.” They totally have.

“That’s your lying face. I _know_ you’ve cuddled in bed.”

“Hi! Here’s your tortilla soup and your beers!” Minseok announces.

“Perfect!” Jongdae says, his whole aura suddenly changing.

Minseok places the food in front of them and Jongdae doesn’t take his eyes off him the entire time.

Minseok’s ears are red when he goes away.

“Fucking hell, tone it down!” Baekhyun furiously whispers at him.

“Now you know how it feels!”

“Not me and Yeollie again!”

“See? Does anyone else call him Yeollie?”

“But it suits him,” Baekhyun reasons.

“Yeah, whatever, I’m dropping this for now just ‘cause the soup is so good. Here, have some.”

 

Their food arrives soon after and they order a few more beers, because what else do you do during happy hour. They drink until Baekhyun’s stomach feels warm from laughing and Jongdae has dropped the topic of Chanyeol entirely and is flirting with Minseok again.

Baekhyun thinks it’s a good decision to finally text Chanyeol. He whips up his phone.

“yeolliee Imi ss youuuuu” he tacks a kissy face at the end for good measure.

Yeollie is typing…

“are you drunk?” the reply comes.

“nOooo. I missu

Sayit back.”

Chanyeol types doesn’t reply for thirty seconds and Baekhyun’s stomach feels queasy.

“imy too, Bacon!”

Another message after that. “are you with dae?”

“yes and notgood enough!!!”

“what?”

“imy.”

“i miss you too. and go back to bed. aren’t u working on ur paper tonight?”

Baekhyun feels warm and a little bit happy, at least.

“no imtakinga break.”

 

“Hey, Baek, are you drunk texting Chanyeol?” Jongdae squints from beside him.

“Am not!” Baekhyun says, sticking his tongue out.

“Then why is he texting to take you home safely?”

“Dammit, why does technology exist!”

“And how are you still okay,” Baekhyun adds, words slurring together.

“You’re a fucking lightweight.”

“Am not!” he says again. “I’ve had-” he counts with his fingers. “Five.”

“I’m surprised you’re not passed out yet, honestly.”

Jongdae is a bad friend. He needs-

“Where is yeollie-“ He asks, suddenly panicked.

“I need-“

“Hey, calm down,” Jongdae says, placing his hands on Baekhyun’s shoulders.

“But-“ he feels tears sting his eyes, suddenly.

“You don’t understand, I need him to piggy back ride me back,” he whispers. The tears spill.

Jongdae takes a quick picture of Baekhyun crying for future use.

“There, there,” he says. He can’t help but laugh.

“You’re laughing at me!” Baekhyun says, shoving him. “I miss Yeollie.”

“Who do you miss?” he asks, taking a video this time.

“Yeollie,” Baekhyun admits, tears streaming down his face.

Jongdae chuckles evilly before pocketing his phone and asking for the bill.

The receipt comes with a slip of paper with a number written on it in neat handwriting. “Minnie,” it says at the bottom.

Jongdae quickly pockets the piece of paper before Baekhyun sees. Not that Baekhyun is in any condition to notice, sniffling as he was in the corner.

They pay, and Jongdae hails a taxi to drop off Baekhyun before going home himself.

 

 

When he gets home, Baekhyun’s head is spinning. He figures he should shoot Chanyeol a quick text to let him know he was fine.

“mhom e. love u”

He falls asleep on the couch and doesn’t move for the next ten hours.

 

Thankfully, hangovers don’t bother Baekhyun much, aside from a light, almost nonexistent buzz in his head the next morning. Sunlight is streaming through the blinds, and Baekhyun decides he wants pancakes.

He checks his phone first. Three missed calls. Four messages.

One text is from his service provider telling him he’s almost out of data. Figures.

Three are from Chanyeol.

“love you too, bacon. good night!”

“morning! just wanted to make sure ur awake for ur 10 am class??”

“oMG WAKE UP”

This is followed by three calls that Baekhyun missed because his phone’s on silent.

 _Shit_. Baekhyun looks at the clock and it’s 10:05. It’s a ten minute walk to class.

He changes his wrinkled shirt and puts on fresh jeans, throwing his dirty clothes on the bed. He grabs his phone and his backpack, running out the door. _No time to think of last night’s texts_ , he reasons.

He’s out of breath by the time he reaches class. Professor Junmyeon looks at him disapprovingly before going back to his lecture. Normally, Baekhyun loves professor Junmyeon. But today his voice just slips past Baekhyun, and his thoughts turn back to last night’s text.

 _Love you too_ , really?

It’s normal to tell your friends you love them, right?

It’s normal behavior for roommates who... care about each other, right?

 

"Mind telling us about this graph, Baekhyun?" Junmyeon asks, bringing him back to the present.

"Oh, uh," he mutters. Baekhyun is usually very participative and on top in Junmyeon's classes, but his slight hangover and the prospect of him having done couply things with Chanyeol is throwing him off his game.

"Never mind," he says and Baekhyun knows he'll talk to him after class and maybe give him extra work.

He spends the rest of the period racking his brains for any other things he may have done to indicate that he and Chanyeol are more than roommates. He can't really tell, since being with Chanyeol is so natural to him, he can't even remember a time before they were together.

As he believed, Junmyeon calls on him to stay after class and asks if anything's bothering him. Baekhyun admits nothing, except maybe stress for his oncoming thesis defense. Junmyeon accepts this as a valid excuse, but doesn't look completely convinced. He doesn't give Baekhyun any extra work.

Baekhyun goes back to the dorm and sleeps the rest of the day off, waking up at ten in the evening. He wakes up to a video Chanyeol sent him of him playing with Toben, his black poodle. It's so cute, it makes Baekhyun's heart warmer and the place a little less emptier.

Before he knows what he's doing, he decides to call him.

"Hey, sorry it’s late,” Baekhyun says, voice embarrassingly raspy from his nap.

“Hey, Baek! I’m so happy you called!” He can see Chanyeol’s happy face in his head. “It’s not late at all!”

“That was really cute! You and Toben, I mean.”

“Ah! You think so?” He sounds happy.

“Who’s cuter, me or Toben?” Did Chanyeol always casually flirt with him like this?

“Uhhh,” he hesitates. What did he usually say in situations like this? He probably let Chanyeol down, right?

“I’m kidding!” Chanyeol says, but his voice sounds a bit deflated. _What did he want Baekhyun to say?_ He just wants this to be as easy as it used to be.

“Nah, sorry, I just really-“ Baekhyun chokes up a little. “-miss you.” It came out wrong. A little bit too sincere for Baekhyun’s liking.

Chanyeol coughs a little before saying it back. “I miss you too!”

“Hey what happened to class this morning?”

“Oh, that. I was maybe a little late.”

“A little?” Chanyeol asks with suspicion.

“Maybe for about thirty minutes…”

“That’s! Not good,” Chanyeol says. “What did Junmyeon say?”

“Nothing, he let me off easy because he knows my thesis is coming up.”

“And how is it coming up?” he asks.

“Great, I guess. There isn’t really much to edit at this point.”

“Hmmm, that’s good! I wish I were there to support you!”

“Nah, you deserve this rest. Are you resting?”

“Hells yeah I am! I’m going shopping with Yoora tomorrow.”

“That sounds fun! Send me pics.”

“Yep!” He sound happy again. Baekhyun can almost see his puppy-like face.

He thinks he should say goodbye, because while it eases his heart to hear Chanyeol’s voice, it also kind of hurts that he’s not around.

“Bye, anyway, I think I’ll work a little more.”

“Don’t work too hard!”

“Yeah, bye, love you,” Baekhyun says casually, though his heart rate suddenly increases tenfold. He drops the call before he hears Chanyeol’s reply.

What the fuck is possessing him that he keeps telling Chanyeol he loves him?

He’s about to throw his phone under the covers and start working, before he receives a selfie from Chanyeol. He’s making a peace sign, and wearing a cute-ass hat over his cute curls. “Love you too~~ <3”

Baekhyun does shove the phone under this time, covering his face with his hands and collapsing on the bed.

This is bad. This is very bad.

 

Baekhyun works hard for the rest of the week that Chanyeol’s away. He does last minute revisions, gets it printed, and spends hours practicing his presentation. Baekhyun has the confidence of a lion, but behind that is tons of hard and practice that no one, except his closest friends, ever sees.

He texts Chanyeol a little, refraining from the I love you’s and I miss you’s he’d been sending.

He passes his thesis with flying colors.

Before he knows it, two weeks pass and it’s time for Chanyeol to go home. He’s sitting in their apartment, nervously fiddling with their sofa throw. He could have called Jongdae for a welcome home party, but that would have been weird. It’s just been two weeks, after all. He doesn’t know how their time apart felt like months, but it did.

Chanyeol walks through the door and takes one look at Baekhyun before he’s dropping his suitcase and tackling him on the sofa.

“Hey!” he says, face as bright as it always was.

Baekhyun almost cries. He’s not a crybaby, but this. Feelings. The faint soapy Chanyeol smell. He can’t understand how he, Byun Baekhyun, ever became this soft.

“Are you crying?” Chanyeol looks amazed.

“I’m not-“

Chanyeol wipes a tear on his cheek. “You totally are!”

Chanyeol wraps him in his arms and puts his forehead on Baekhyun’s.

“Who hurt my little bud-“

“Call me little one more time, I’ll ask Kyungsoo to end you.”

Chanyeol gulps. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he says, snuggling Baekhyun.

It’s funny, Baekhyun thinks, how easy it actually is. When Chanyeol’s here, there’s no time to second guess, no time to think what they are. He just _knows_. He’s certain. He’s home.

He turns his head to face Chanyeol’s before kissing him for the first time ever. His lips are very soft and warm, and Baekhyun gets the urge to nibble on it. _Not yet_ , stupid.

Chanyeol looks surprised for a split second before he kisses him back, more deeply. Baekhyun tastes a hint of something sweet, like mint.

Chanyeol draws back and gives him the brightest smile yet.

Baekhyun turns an extreme shade of red when he realizes what they’ve done. “Why the fuck aren’t you more surprised?”

“What?”

Baekhyun gets the urge to knee him in the groin.

“Well, I kind of expected it?” Chanyeol has the gall to say.

Baekhyun slaps his ass hard instead.

“Ow!” he exclaims, before smiling again. “Oh! So you’re into that! Do you wanna take this to the bedroom or-“

Baekhyun actually does knee him in the groin this time.

“What was that for!?”

“Aren’t we going a little fast?” Baekhyun asks.

“But we’ve been dating for three months?”

Baekhyun stops. “What?”

“What?” Chanyeol echoes.

“But you kept telling me you loved me?” He asks.

“I…did,” Baekhyun admits.

“The first time you said you loved me? I was so happy?” Chanyeol looks uncertain, suddenly.

Baekhyun backtracks three months. Then he almost feels like slapping himself.

Baekhyun’s a fucking idiot.

 

It was late at night, they were in the kitchen. Chanyeol was having a late night snack, or more like a late drink of his favorite strawberry milk before bed. Baekhyun decided to go to bed earlier.

“Night, love you!” He’d said accidentally.

Chanyeol didn’t even blink. “Night. Love you too!” He’d replied.

It wasn’t until Baekhyun was back in his room that he realized what they’d said.

At the same time, unbeknownst to Baekhyun, Chanyeol spit out his strawberry milk.

They never really brought it up again, but Chanyeol steadily got closer to Baekhyun after that. He touched him a bit more freely, ruffling his hair, pulling him close, hugging him. Baekhyun liked it, so he didn’t say anything, and soon they were cuddling in bed and going on dates that Baekhyun didn’t even know were dates.

He’s such an idiot. They both are.

 

“I’m such an idiot, I thought-“ Chanyeol starts.

“What the fuck, I didn’t realize-“ Baekhyun begins at the same time.

“You first.”

“No, you first!”

“I’m an idiot for assuming things,” Chanyeol admits. “But I was so happy! I thought I was finally dating my super hot roommate.”

Baekhyun flushes a bit at that. “It was so easy, I never thought about it. Thus, the accidental confession. Then I was in denial for a while after that.”

“Okay, just to formalize things,” Chanyeol starts. “Can I be your boyfriend?”

Baekhyun looks at him, his wide, puppy eyes, his now-messed up hair, his cute, chubby lips. “Yes.”

Baekhyun pulls him down for another kiss, but Chanyeol draws back.

“So are we dating now, just to be clear?” Chanyeol asks him.

“Yes, we’re fucking dating, you idiot.”

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how this turned out. Hope our sun enjoys his day, I love him!! You can yell at me on Twitter i'm @mintytaekooks


End file.
